Tuscaloosa teen charged with murder

A Tuscaloosa teenager is facing a murder charge after police say he shot a 27-year-old man to death Thursday afternoon.

The shooting happened around 2:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31 in the 3200 block of 8th Street. When police and homicide investigators got to the scene, they found the victim had been shot several times in the front yard of a home owned by Josephine Travis. She says the shooting happened right in front of her.

"I asked [the suspect], 'Why in the blank is you still shooting him? He looks like you already killed him or he's dying,'" Travis told FOX6 News.

The victim, identified as Rico Barnes, was taken to DCH and pronounced dead. Witnesses told officials that the suspect, 19-year-old Laranden Dewayne Perry, shot Barnes and fled the scene.

Travis says she knows both Barnes and Perry. She remembers when Perry was a 5-year-old riding his bike through the neighborhood.

"Well it didn't really touch me until this morning. I'd say about 2 o'clock and that's when it hit. I haven't been to bed yet," Travis said.

Travis claims that Perry ran away before helped arrived. Police say Perry turned himself in to police at a relative's home. He was taken into custody and also received treatment for an injury to his hand, Captain Loyd Baker with the sheriff's office said.

Authorities tell FOX6 News that according to some residents they have spoken with, Perry may have been robbed by Barnes, which may have lead to Thursday's events.

Perry has been charged with murder and is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

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